Known processes for making fluoropolymers by an emulsion process commonly use perfluorinated or highly fluorinated surfactants to stabilize the emulsion during the reaction. For example, perfluorocarboxylate salts are used to stabilize fluoropolymer emulsion polymerizations, with the most common example being ammonium perfluorooctanoate. Fluorosurfactants are expensive, specialized materials, however, and because of their high stability, they tend to persist in the environment and now are under scrutiny of regulatory agencies. A process which uses a non-fluorinated surfactant to make fluoropolymers could solve these problems. In general, non-fluorinated surfactants have been used in emulsion polymerization of non-fluorinated monomers, while they had very limited success in conjunction with fluorinated monomers because they induce long inhibition time, low yield, and low molecular weight.